


Heart of Stone

by Myrkuri



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Emercury, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrkuri/pseuds/Myrkuri
Summary: A short depiction of Hazel, Mercury and Emerald's journey back to Salem's fortress.





	Heart of Stone

If there was one thing Mercury didn’t expect when he took this job, it was that he’d soon find he actually had something to lose. 

Emerald still hadn’t woken up from her collapse after their failure to seize the relic at Haven. He was worried about her. She had used her semblance to distort the minds of at least eleven people in that room, a number far larger than her average deception. Mercury thought back to when they were still at Beacon, remembering as Emerald grabbed her head in pain after only deceiving two people. 

His brow furrowed as he looked up at Emerald, still slouched over Hazel’s shoulder. At the very least, she looked peaceful.

The silence between him and Hazel had been there for the entirety of their escape. Mercury didn’t know if it was his immaturity back in Evernight that bothered Hazel, or if he too was feeling the stress of the situation, but he chose against speaking out. 

“Tell me, boy.” Mercury’s eyes widened as he heard the man speak for the first time in hours. “What is your connection to this girl?”

Mercury’s eyes scrunched, trying to keep up with Hazel’s surprisingly fast pace. “What do you mean? She’s my partner, we work together.”

“I heard you call her name when she collapsed.” Hazel stopped walking, slowly turning around to face him. “You weren’t going to leave without her.”

Mercury ran a hand through his hair, avoiding eye contact with the man whose eyes were really starting to make him uncomfortable. “Look, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but-”

“You care about her.”

Those four words hit Mercury hard. He quickly raised a finger to retort, but Hazel had already turned around and begun to walk again. Mercury sighed as he followed the man. 

“What’s it to you, anyways? From what I know,” Mercury said, a chuckle rising from his voice, “you’ve got a heart of stone. The only expressions I’ve seen from you have been angry and bored.”

Hazel simply grunted as he shifted Emerald from his left shoulder to his right. He kept his controlled pace, his eyes beginning to look for a place the three could rest for the night.

Mercury let out an annoying ‘hmph’ as he put his hands in his pockets, still following Hazel. The two had begun walking a bit slower now, far away enough from Haven to feel safe in doing so. The assassin also began looking for places to rest, because despite his legs not being tired, his eyes were starting to get weary.

“Hey,” Mercury said, to no response. “Hello? Are you ignoring me?”

“No.”

Mercury raised an eyebrow. “Then why didn’t you- nevermind. What do you think about us resting over....” he searched around for a few moments before he finished his sentence, as he didn’t actually have a certain spot in mind to rest. At this point Hazel had turned around and started staring at him, which pressured him into pointing at a random set of trees, “...there?”

Hazel sighed. “Think before you speak.”

Mercury crossed his arms and groaned. “What’s so wrong with those trees? How are they gonna be any different than any other trees we see? If you didn’t notice,” he said, extending his arms to either side of him, “that’s all that’s here!”

“Calm down, boy.” 

“I am calm!”

Silence swept over the both of them. Mercury was staring at Hazel, panting a bit, eyes wide and mouth agape. His eyes slowly narrowed as he began to lower his arms to his sides.

“What’s so funny?”

Hazel burst out into laughter. A genuine, hearty laugh. It was perhaps the first one he’s had in a long time. He began to regain his composure as he slowly started to turn around, much to Mercury’s annoyance.

“Breathe. I’ll make sure you and the girl get the rest you need.” He began walking again, “It looks like not much further the forest gets thicker,” he rolled the shoulder that didn’t have Emerald on it, “there should be a better set of trees up ahead. We’ll sleep there.”

Mercury took a deep breath. “Right. Better trees. Okay then.” He began following the man, just hoping he wasn’t as stupid as he sounded.

And as they walked, Mercury could have sworn Hazel’s shoulders seemed a lot more relaxed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! <3


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